Another World
by njking24
Summary: Madara casts Naruto into another while both are on the thin line between life and death. In a new world where his family's alive and thriving, and one in which he feels and knows he doesn't belong. Naruto strives to fit in, and deal with a world that doesn't need a hero. A rewrite of my story other worlds.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter one of my rewrite. I hope you like this**

XXX-Naruto-xxx

His skin burned like an inferno, it stung like a million needles each digging forcefully into his chest. The pain, the pain was excruciating. An unfathomable racking pain that surged its way into the depths of his soul, which seared its way into his memory in such a manner that he knew he would _never _forget. His eyes trailed weakly to his opponent, the man in was in just as bad, if not a worse state as himself.

He laughed, for the briefest of moments his cracked and broken voice came rasping out.

"Never…never have I ever hated someone." The nature of the words startled him, the honesty in those words… "But you. I hate you."

"You…" Madara rasped out in response. The man laid on the floor, his mismatched eyes watching the blond with daft attention. He tried to move, to will his body to act; nothing, his body wouldn't obey, he couldn't move. "How will you do that when you can't move? When you're as ruined as me. Don't you see….this world…it's doomed. What happens when you die, when I'm gone?"

"I'll kill,_ no. _I'll erase you from this world. Wipe every trace of you from existence."

"I'll tell you what will happen _boy!_ Death, destruction. Domination and oppression, madness….There are no longer nine Bijuu. Just the Juubi and two Jinchuuriki…What do you think will happen when you die? When the nations realize that there's now just one monster. One beast who could allow them to dominate their neighbors? _Death!"_

Slowly Naruto struggled to his feet, he screamed in torment. His wounds gushing open and spilling the red ichor of his blood onto the floor. Fierce blue eyes gazed about the battle field.

_Death._

All this death. All because of one man. He moved, each step a practice in absolute torment. A momentary act in pure absolute _Pain._ Red tinted blond hair swayed in the wind. Blue eyes, rich pools of cobalt locked on Naruto.

"You know nothing. These people fought to stop you, they fought…for a reason. To protect those they loved."

"They fought because they had no other option. Because the enemy of their enemy was their friend. When I'm gone- the enemy that hold their attention- when you're gone," Madara laughed his voice a thick coarse sound, he stopped as a thick bloody cough racked his chest. "They'll have no hero, no one to hold their feeble alliance together. They'll fall on each other like wolves. The weak will fall, and the strong will become the oppressors and monsters they always wish they could be."

"You keep on acting like I'm going somewhere…."

All Naruto got in response was another bloody laugh.

"I'm the one standing."

Another laugh. This one more maniacal than the last. Madara's sharingan twisted, his stolen rinnengan blared. The skies twisted open, buckled beneath the weight of the world. Before Naruto could act his world went black.

"I may die, but _this _world, _this world _will never see you again."

xxx-Minato-xxx

The clock behind his wall ticked slowly, too slowly, Namikaze Minato decided. Time was too slow, the seconds too long, the minutes an eternity, and the hours…the horrid hours never came to an end. He read through another paper. This one dealing with the nature of the village's water supply.

Who cared if the acetone levels were up point two percent? Why did they need his permission to change the reservoir filters? Why wasn't there some superfluous department to handle something as simple as this? He sighed in annoyance.

He swiveled in his chair. His sky blue eyes, deep azure pools that they were, watched his village with contentment. The boredom still gnawed at him, it ate at him constantly, and it was there, always there. After nearly sixteen years doing it he still hadn't come to terms with it. How had the Sandaime lasted more than forty years on this job?

"I wish there was something to break the monotony of this."

He stared out, watched, and waited. He sighed in frustration when nothing at all happened. He could hear the light chuckles of his ANBU. They were used to this by now. It was almost a daily ritual.

"Fuck." He could feel the amusement of his ANBU even from his chair.

Peace was all and good, but kami damn it, why did it have to be so boring?

He didn't know what he had expected. Life didn't work that way, even for ninja and Kage. The mundaneness of existence was ever present and unchanging. The sameness of life…he sighed in frustration once more. He swirled around in his chair with a gusto.

He read another paper. The resupply department needed his signature on the ordering of ten thousand Kunia from the land of Iron. He read through it, made sure he agreed with the terms, then signed it off.

"Rat."

The anbu dropped before him without a word.

"Yes Hokage-sama?"

"Please bring me a cup of tea, Rat, extra sugar, I'll need it if I want to have any hope of staying awake today."

"Of course Hokage-…"

A bright white light bloomed into existence. It shone like a second sun, hung for seemingly an eternity, a second blue white star casting its pale light all over the visage of his village. His body was moving even before he had processed what he'd just seen.

Rat stood was at his side. Without as much as a word he leapt from his office to investigate the vibrant light source. Then suddenly, the wind whistled by, and the eastern portion of his village was _shredded_. Gale force winds birthed into existence, and a sound like a million thunder claps roared at the same time. Homes and stores were leveled in an instant, civilians were thrown off their feet and cast away like leaves in the wayward wind. Anything not nailed down was sent airborne.

He watched in slight bemusement as his ANBU were thrown back from the force of the winds.

He frowned though as the winds started to settle, and he witnessed the destruction they'd brought with them. The damage was grotesque, building cleaved in two, the roads ripped to shreds, already he could hear the cries and pleas of help from his people. More anbu teams were gathering around him, he smirked. They were fast, faster than they'd been during the last emergency drill, good.

Good, indeed.

Wolf was one of the first to reach him. He turned to the massive man. Wolf towered over him like a mountain at over seven feet tall, and with shoulders befitting a man of his size. He was a beast, a brute of pure muscle. Yet beneath that insane size was a keen intelligence that had made him declare the man an ANBU captain.

"I've got a squad trying to find those beneath rubble already Hokage-sama."

He nodded in response, "Come with me wolf, request squads one and three follow me us at twenty meters, have squad four stationed in the eastern quarter with one of my seals in case I need to return here quickly."

The man bowed, then disappeared in a blur.

Minato closed his eyes for a moment, then with a start, he beamed off towards the source of the light. The entire eastern quarter was coated in the chakra of whoever had done this. But it got more concentrated the closer to the chunin training grounds he approached.

He slung his body forward, pumped chakra to his legs, and pushed himself to go as fast as he could. He covered the five miles between where he was and the outer edges of the eastern quarter in a minute and a half. He slowed down when he felt wolf's familiar prescience pull up slightly behind him.

"It is done, Hokage-sama."

"Then let's go."

Minato whistled as they entered training ground nine. The air was laced with chakra, it was so palpable, so thick and potent that in some areas it was visible to the naked eye do to sheer concentration. He shuddered. Chunin training ground nine was a wooded place. Thick trees grown by the hands of the Shodaime Hokage himself hundreds of years before marred the place. Thick trees that had stood over a hundred feet tall, their trunks like red-brown monoliths, unmoving and unchanging. He'd seen a-rank fire techniques smash against those tree, seen b ranked windstorms strip the bark from them only for it to regrow back weeks later.

Those tree had been used as targets and training posts by various ninja for over a hundred years…and yet they endured. Yet they stood unchanged. Now…now they were felled. Chopped to pieces, their bare stumps exposed. Some pulled entirely from the ground, taking with them a handful of other massive tree. Their massive roots were intertwines like a rats nest.

As he approached the center the chakra got thicker. A miasma of energy floating free in the air. A crater, a deep-nearly thirty feet deep in fact- circular hole fifteen feet across. He peered down into it, just as he reached the edges of the crater Wolf landed next to him.

"Is that what I think it is wolf?"

"It's a body Hokage-sama."

"I'm going to investigate." He prepared himself to leap, but Wolf was faster and his massive palm, the size of Minato's chest, stopped him.

"Allow me Hokage-sama. It could be a trap."

It very well could be, but Minato was a Kage for god's sake, he could take care of himself, more than that in fact. Nearly…well nearly twenty five years before at the siege of Oromia's valley he'd slain more than a thousand men, five regiments of ninja by himself in less than a second. The bodies were still there-bleached white bones by now-at least those they couldn't recognize. He grimaced at that memory, needless bloodshed that had been.

"I can take care of myself Wolf."

"That may be so Hokage-sama, but it's still my job to protect you, I shall investigate."

Before he could argue, wolf leapt down into the pit. His massive form landed with a loud thud, and dark dust rose up and settled on the ground. He watched as wolf approached cautiously, then he grabbed the young blond laying in the bottom of the crater. With a heave, wolf had the blond boy over his shoulder. His unconscious form limping over the giants massive shoulders. In the noonday sun of Konoha his blond locks were like liquid gold. He wore an orange jacket, hued a dark umber from blood, black flames licked at its edges. It reminded him of his own ware.

As wolf brought the unconscious boy…no…the man, his jaw was too strong, his face too lean, to be considered a boy. The unconscious man Minato finally noticed the slowly dripping droplets of red trailing down his face.

"He's alive Hokage-sama…I don't know how. His right arm is ruined, the ulna and radius are absolutely crushed, his chests damn near caved in as well. His hips shattered." Wolf pointed to the jagged fragments of bone sticking through both the boy's arms and his hips. "The internal hemorrhaging has to be insane…and the pool of blood down there…in all truths the lad should be dead Hokage-sama. It's only his massive reserves keeping him alive right now…

Minato frowned. So much chakra…it was unimaginable.

"Take him to the tower, place him in MS-4 and call in the medic-nin. See what they can do for him, have that room locked down and a guard squad placed around the cell…." He was contemplative for a moment.

"I want Giraffe, Willow, Scarecrow, and Bear guarding him. Place Rose as his medic."

"Of course Hokage-sama."

He was contemplative for a moment. His blue eyes watching the blond haired boy with fascination. He heard a sickening click, the noise of bone meeting bone, and flesh cleaving in town. He watched as bone seemed to retract back into skin, clack into its proper position and mend itself.

Wolf spoke what was on his mind.

"The actual fuck?"

Minato laughed and Wolf seemed to catch himself. "Excuse my language Hokage-sama."

"No, I quite agree with your sentiments Wolf." He stopped for a moment to think. "Make sure he's heavily sedated at all times, doubly so in fact…that's a rather potent healing factor to snap a bone back into place. Insure Rose is never alone with him, I want Giraffe and Willow with her constantly."

Wolf nodded, held onto the boy, and disappeared in a blur of blinding speed.

xxx-Naruto-xxx

"_Love lost is the worst love of all." His voice came out in a quiver._

_He looked up. His sorrow deep and agonizing, his eyes a myriad pool of many colors. Red, purple, gold and blue dancing and moving, swirling in unpredictable patterns. Flashing in and out of existence like a flame. _

_Her father looked at him, his own sorrow deep. They stood together over the grave, frowns on their face, the loss palpable to both of them. One losing a daughter…the other a lover, a companion…a wife. _

"_Naruto-kun…she'll want you to be strong."_

"_Its…it's..." He stopped talking and sighed. It was too hard to explain to Inochi…Another loss, another failure…_

_His life seemed to be filled with them lately._

xxx-Inochi-xxx

"Do you think you can do it?" He bowed deep, his platinum blond hair glistening in the deep orange hue that was cast by the sun.

"I can."

"Good," Minato stood up, pushing his wheeled office chair behind him as he stood. "Follow me then."

Inochi did. It wasn't every day that one got called by the blond haired Kage.

Over the near two decades of rule Inochi had had sparse conversation with the man in a non-professional setting. Despite his warming personality, and his overt charm, Minato was a private man, spending what little free time afforded him with his two daughters and wife. While it wasn't rare to see the man walking through the village, and having small conversations with its populace. What was rare was seeing him do so without at least one of his daughters, or his wife in tow.

"Hokage-sama…if I may ask? What's so special about this boy that you need my help?"

The hokage looked back at him and smiled. "He's heavily sedated, and freeing him from that state would be counter intuitive, he's proved to be rather capable at resisting the drugs, and our own chakra restriction seals make normal interrogation quite impossible."

"Ahh..."

"Don't worry about it."

They walked down the tower, then they crossed the thick inches steel door that marked the entrance into the Maximum Security facilities beneath the tower. An ANBU guard stationed at the door moved to the left, pressed his palm against the door, and flashed his chakra. The four inches of solid steel slid open, and the Hokage walked through. Inochi followed, and nodded at the masked guard. He got no response.

They walked for some time, about ten minute going down an ever downward spiral of stairs. Every twenty feet or so a sold six inch steel door stood. Inochi shuddered. The place was cold, and sparsely illuminated by the hard, harsh blue-green glare of chakra suppressing seals. The air was damn, and harsh on the lungs…He frowned. Then, suddenly they stopped and the Hokage pressed his hand onto the cold hard door. Seal script light up, and it slid to the right.

"Were here." Minato entered and Inochi followed without a word.

He looked around the cell. It was well light, with a heartbeat monitor in the corner beeping in a steady rhythm. A large IV bag was feeding a saline and glucose drip slowly into both of the boy's arms.

Said boy lay unconscious, his blond hair splayed wildly on the bed. He was naked from the chest up, and large bandages were wrapped around most of his upper body. Some were red, and the room smelt with the rich, sweet, copper scent of blood. Three deep scars were on either side of his cheek…much like both of Hokage-sama's daughter.

He looked up at his blond Kage, and reading his mind the man responded.

"I'm quite aware of the resemblance to both myself, and the rest of my family Inochi. You can see why I asked you personally for this favor…"

"It will be a pleasure, Hokage-sama."

Inochi ran through the hand signs for his family's classic ninjutsu, finished and placed his hand on the head of the unnamed boy.

_The world shifted. A deep unseeing black consumed him, and suddenly he felt the cold drip of water falling onto his head. Felt his body slink deep into a cold, __slimy__ water. It chilled him to the bones. He gasped, his body flashing upward and his eyes snapping open._

_He looked around, and froze in place. Massive bars, truly gargantuan constructs that seemed to go on upwards for an eternity, splayed open. Behind them, eyes impossibly large watched him. Pools of deep, insidious red, and an omnipotent ever-present feeling of oppression, pressed down on his mind. His breath hitched in his chest, and he felt bile rise up in his throat. _

_He flailed back and stared in silenced awe. A massive paw reached past gargantuan gates, and slammed down in front of his body. _

"_**Please…do stay. Why go through all that trouble, only to leave so soon?" **__Dark insidious laughter followed. _

_He forced himself to look past the paws…Past the large __than__ life maw, and the razor sharp teeth. Past the Massive paw, or perhaps hand, that had nearly crushed him to death. Towards the mass of twitching flicking tails…nine of them. Which should have been impossible. That Bijju, it was known, was sealed within Kushina-sama. He realized he'd tried to cancel his technique without him even knowing it. It had just…happened. _

"_**You came to look at the boys mind correct?"**_

_He said nothing. _

"_**You can talk, can't you ningen?"**_

"_Y…yes." _

_It grinned an insidious smile. __**"Well?"**_

"_Yes..."_

_The massive paw lifted up. Rancid vile chakra funneled into it, and it sliced across the water. The water boiled and hissed in protest. A pungent smell filled his nose, and he realized, with some horror, that it was blood. He was standing atop a small lake made entirely of blood. The fox seemed to read his mind and grin. _

"_**Go down. Hold your breath ningen, take a deep, long breath, and go down. You'll resurface soon, and there you'll find his memories."**_

"_What? Why are you-"_

"_**Go." **__It was a command. _

_He went. _

_Xxx-Inochi and Naruto-xxx_

_The pool of blood was hot around his body, and the deeper he went the more __vicious__ it got. It seemed endless, and his lungs seemed to burn in his chest. He thought of turning around, __of__ going the way he came…but which was that? A thought slipped through his mind, what if he died here? What is….then suddenly, he was free. _

_He gasped as he resurfaced, then suddenly, he gasped once more. _

"_This...this is impossible." Most people's mind-spaces were small things. A room or a building. A small clearing and woods. Mind-spaces were developed based on the depths of a person's experience, the amount of chakra they had, and how strong their imagination was. This place…this place was an entire other world. _

_Mind spaces couldn't be this large. They shouldn't be this large. Mind spaces weren't supposed to be an endless primordial forest. They weren't supposed to have tree so large their canopy disappeared past a dense fog of clouds. They weren't supposed to have high suns hanging overhead. He swam to shore, cutting through the red pool with ease. Then hauling himself out of the water and taking a deep breath he sighed. _

"_I doubt Hokage-sama will believe this." _

_He took a second to look around once more. A canopy of flowers laid upon the forest floor. The distant chirping of birds could be heard overhead. A falcon called somewhere off in the distance. _

"_I should start look around. I'll need to find where he stores his memories." He got up. He heard a crunch beneath his feet. He picked his foot up in dismay. Destroying things in someone's mind scape was dangerous for both parties._

"_What in the hell?"_

_The world shifted. He was himself, and suddenly no longer himself. Watching through the eyes of the blond before him. A man stood opposite him, his hair a deep rust orange, twin pools of rippled purple stared back at him. Devastation surrounded him. Konoha...a whisper of a voice called out to him. _

_It shifted again. He was moving, clearing the distance at impossible speed, chakra building in his hand, then suddenly, he shifted, but still his punch landed his mark. The man went flying. _

"_That's…" Splitting ones memories around ones mindscape was a __Yamanaka__ clan secret how did some unknown factor know something like that? He frowned as he realized the danger he'd now be faced with. He'd have to find the root of the mindscape…likely meaning he'd have to find the boy himself. _

"_Hello? Is anyone here?"_

_The falcon cried again, and from the forest came a large orange fox. Its eyes were a deep, sky blue. They seemed endless. It seemed old, and a large scar left no fur on most of its upper abdomen, where its chest should be. An inner representation of one's self. The mind displayed itself as it viewed itself, apparently the boy, somewhere deep within himself was a scared, sly fox. _

"_Are you the boy?"_

_The fox said nothing, but instead turned around. It looked back at him expectantly. _

"_Okay ill follow you." _

_They walked deeper into the forest, and the light seemed to fade. Soon, he could barely see, just the lumbering orange mass, and the tall foreboding tree that reached up grasping and gripping at the sky. Finally they stopped before what seemed to be the source of the forest. A massive tree. Twelve times __larger__ than any other. It bark was stained a deep red blood, and black flecks littered its bark. _

_This was the root. When using Yamanaka mind splitting techniques you needed a base, a hold to keep your mind together. A root memory to tie all the others together. It would normally be impossible to find without the persons help. This meant that the boy wanted him to see his memories….but why?_

_He touched it and his view shifted. _

_Platinum blond hair spilled into his hands. Soft lips pressed against his. Teal eyes stared at him, and he felt pure joy and love overflow him. Her naked body pressed against his. _

"_You're a hero Naruto-kun…but you don't have to bottle everything up."_

_He felt himself, but not himself, it was…__Naruto__…yes. It was Naruto laughing. _

"_I'm not bottling up anything Ino-chan." He felt himself smiling. "I'm fine."_

_His daughter…his Ino. They'd been lovers._

"_Whatever hero-boy." She kissed him again. Soft lips pressing against his flesh again. _

"_I love you."_

"_I love you too." She called back, before pulling him close and pressing her body against his. So soft, so warm. Lovely._

_The world shifted for Inochi once more. It was himself now, he was staring at himself. At a graveyard, or a makeshift one. Shallow graves. Above them the sky hung overhead. _

"_I'm sorry." Naruto's voice called out. It was filled with sorrow, with pain. _

"_Naruto, Stop. I don't blame you. She loved you, and I know she died loving you. She thought she could save you…I'd do the same thing for her mother. You couldn't protect her forever, I couldn't either. We both knew that…she made her own choice. We have to respect her memory."_

"_I'll kill him. I'll end this tonight."_

_A third shift. A third memory. __Inochi__ felt like recoiling. Like escaping, but he couldn't. He tried to move but his body wouldn't respond. All he could do was watch. Watch memories fly by as he experienced them. See the life of someone he didn't even know. Someone who loved…_

_His body moved, surged with potent energy. He crossed miles in minutes, __careened__ across a continent in a mad rage. He roared, in anger, in grief. __Trees__ were felled in his grief. Hot searing tears dripped down Naruto's face. Then, he spotted him. Madara. In dark red armor, the man's-_

_The word came to Incochi. __Rinnegan__. The __rinnengan__. The eyes of the sage of six paths. Madara's __rinnegan__ blared. And he was blown from his feet. Sent careening away. His body like a stone skipping across the water's surface. He recovered, and careened once more toward the madman. The murderer. _

"_Rasenshuriken__!" The technique was birthed in an instant. A living mass of Nature chakra, his own, and the Kyuubi's evil potent energy. It went soaring, raging in defiance of its creature. _

_The memory cut short…then a lifetime flashed before Inochi's eyes. _

Xxx-Minato-xxX

As Minato read dossier written by Inochi he couldn't help but scowl in distaste. The blood reports had also come back, and they'd proven to as conclusive as he'd thought they'd be.

"Rat" The anbu dropped before minato.

"Rat. Get me the elder council, and Inochi-san as well. Bring a tea set on your return. Honey and sugar in different saucers as well."

"As you wish Hokage-sama."

A cluster fuck. That was the only word he could use to describe this situation. He was at a tenuous turn point, a decision had to be made soon, and he had a feeling he'd be facing the consequence be they good or bad. He twisted in his chair, and looked over the visage of his village. It had been over a month since Naruto's arrival, and the village had already started the reconstruction process of the Easter quarter. Luckily no lives had been lost, though homes and businesses were destroyed and the long term economic impact was yet to be seen…

"Hokage-sama. The elder council and Inochi-san is here."

"Please send them."

The wooden doors to his office slid open. The elderly forms of the council walked in. In the lead, the last Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen followed by Homura and Koharu. He smiled at Minato. Then following after them, walked in the awkward form of Inochi. He seemed out of place in the room filled with legends. Inochi himself was a ninja of reputable reputation, but…in comparison to the people in this room? He was a fickle candle before luminous suns.

"Please be seated."

Each of them took a seat, and Mintao took a seat as well. His hand flashed into a seal, and the room glowed a bright blue for a few seconds.

"Everyone here has read the dossier on Uzumaki Naruto. Correct?"

A resounding Chorus of "Hai." Was their response.

"Then let this meeting begin. I've called you all here to answer the question as to what should be done with Uzumaki Naruto, as he's called. Normally I'd make decide this myself, but a number of factors complicate this. For instance the nature of his appearance is in and of itself a problem, the fact that he hold a version of the Kyuubi no kitsune is another. Take in the fact that my limited number of viable paths of actions will require quit the bit of effort to execute and…well… "

Sarutobi stood up. "I think it best we integrate him into the Shinobi population. He's skilled, from what Inochi-san has reported, his chakra reserves are large and he is loyal to Konoha."

"That seems a little rash doesn't it Hiruzen?" All eyes turned to Homura.

"We're making rather large assumptions. The first being that's the evidence provided is enough to believe in this convoluted idea of dimension hopping. The second that he's sane enough to be a viable part of our shinobi forces. Lastly we're ignoring the question of his loyalty, and his loyalty, if we are to believe this report would be to _his _konoha. _His _Konoha differed greatly from ours."

"Homura-san there is more than enough evidence to support the idea he's from another world. You've read the dossier, but," Minato stood, grabbed the results of the DNA test, then tossed it on the table. The various council members read it, then it was placed simply back on the table. "That could not have been included in the dossier as the blood tests arrived this morning. As you can see a fifty percent math to both me and my wife. Supporting Inochi-sans report as him being a child of Kushina-chan and I."

He reached into his pocket and released a scroll. "These items were found on his persons when we recovered his unconscious form."

He released the seal and four items appeared on the table. A ninja I.D. card, a black and scared Haitai, an orange and black vest, and finally a necklace with a set of rings and a half shattered crystal. In the midday both the crystal and the rings glowed with an eerie sheen.

"Is that?" The third looked at the necklace with a keen eye.

"Yes, it is. When we found it I sent a ANBU squad to find Tsunade-sama. They returned sometime last week, she still has her grandfather's necklace. There's only one other in the elemental nations and it's locked up firmly within the vault beneath the Hokage tower." Minato sat down once more. "Not only that but the chakra of the Kyuubi no Kitsune has been sensed within the boy. As were all well aware, that should be impossible as my wife is currently the container for the Kyuubi no Kitsune and has been for most of her life."

Koharu chose then to speak up. "Agh. So assuming the boy is what we think he is, what then? Like Koharu says. How can we trust him? Let alone know that's he's sane. We all read the same thing." He grabbed a copy of the dossier and tossed it onto the table. "A suicidal charge at a clearly superior enemy is far from the panicle of logical thought."

"If I may speak?" Inochi called out.

"Proceed Inochi-san."

"Thanks you Hokage-sama. Before I speak I should make it clear that Uzumaki Naruto was married to my daughter, and as a result my perception might be slightly skewed. It's impossible to avoid completely and influence like that, so I wish to make it clear beforehand."

"We've taken note of it, Inochi-san please proceed." It was the third speaking.

"I experienced the full brunt of Uzumaki Naruto's life. The dossier I wrote on it and my own psychological interpretations is but a brief summary. He's sane, and as trustworthy a shinobi as can come. More than once did he not only place his life on the line to protect his allies, but also complete his mission for the good of the village. _His _version of Konoha at least. Often times against impossible odds. For instance he took on and defeated the Hachibi Jinchuuriki in his first chunnin exams…"

Homaru spoke up once more. "Yes he's loyal to _a _Konoha, but could he be loyal to _this _Konoha should be out question. And if not how do we dispose of him?"

Minato spoke up. "Killing him is out of the question. We have no clue how his seal works, and the Kyuubi sealed with him seems to like or at least get along with him. We could be releasing a natural disaster upon ourselves. Neither can we keep him forever sedated. The sedatives we use on him are a private supply provided by the Uzumaki-Namikaze clan via the Aburame clan. We have about another two weeks supply before we run out."

"So then…there's only one option." It was Kohara again.

"No." Minato said. "We could lock his chakra away, place him further in the tower, and keep him there for the rest of his life. But I doubt that would work. He does host a bijju after all…and attempting to imprison him seems counter-intuitive. An angry Jinchuuriki calling on the power of his demon in an attempt to escape the tower is hardly a situation that could be allowed to happen within the village."

Hamaru sighed. "Then it's decided."

"It's the best option by far."

xxx-Naruto-xxx

A listless world of black. He free floated in a pool, a swirling river of weightlessness, and sheer good, enjoyable memories. Of loving, and laughing, and enjoying the few happy times he'd had in his life. He knew this feeling…he'd been drugged. How long…? He fought through the blackness…forced weight back into the world. Escaped the good times, and the laughing times, and the love. He forced himself back into harsh reality...because what else was there to do?

_Live life._

That's all he could do, because he wasn't desperate enough, or strong enough, or a sick combination of the two, to end it all.

_Live life. _

With all its pains.

_Live life._

So he opened his eyes. Felt the pall on his muscles, and sluggishly opened his eyes. Twin pools of blue were watching him. Golden hair in a face far older than he remembered from a time far gone. He tried to grasp at the face in his mind. To put a name to it…but it was there, then gone. Somewhere…somewhere….

"Hello Naruto-kun…" The voice seemed hesitant.

"Welcome to a new world." He laughed in response. Then, suddenly he could place a name to the face.

"Namikaze Minato." Then it was too much and he fell back to the weightlessness.

**XXX-Authors Notice-xxx**

**So….this chapter is 5.5k words. Long….it was going to be longer but I decided against it. I hope you like it. I think this was the right place for me to end it. Some parts drag on a little longer ****than**** I'd like. But in all, I think this first chapter is far better than the first chapter of "Other Worlds." **


	2. Chapter 2

**xxx-Authors note-xxx**

**This chapter is shorter than chapters for this story will be in the future. Its 3.7k words. Im aiming for 5k words a chapter for this but i'm busy and writing 5k words will interrupt me working on my other stories in the limited time frame I have so….yeah. That's a thingy. Read and review. I read every review. Every single one. What also stopped this from being longer was the fact that the document got corrupted while saving in word and I had to rewrite the entire damn thing from memory.**

**:/ fucking hell. **

**xxx-Authors note-xxx**

xxx-Naruto-xxx

"Living was is hard", Ino had had told him. He'd laughed when she said that because he knew for sure that it was true. He hadn't needed to be told at all. "Dying is easy, Naruto-kun." Now he laughed because she had been wrong about that. Dying was easy, but only for everyone else. After her death, after she had died, he'd had nothing. Nothing else that mattered anyways. His friends…what was left of them at least had tried to cheer him up but it had been too much…too much.

Just too damn much.

Too many losses too soon, too close together. He'd gone out. He went again, and again, and again into the hell that was war. In those months after her death he'd fought again and again. He went to battles he shouldn't have come back from, he'd faced Madara a dozen times, again and again. And still, like some sick joke he'd survived. When his friends were dying around him he lived. Madara hadn't managed to kill him, always in a tie, both walking away near death, both not quite managing to slay the other. Until…finally...

The darkness faded away. His eyes opened to a dull blue light and a room lit only by the faint glow of active seals. He felt weak, pathetic….it was strange. He hadn't felt weak, physically weak that is, or vulnerable in years. He laughed...his voice came out strange. A croaky, cracked thing, deeper than he remembered. He turned his head, sky blue pools trying to get a glimpse around him. This was his second time awake in this place. His first time…he'd dreamt of Namikaze Minato. His long dead father…if you could call a dead man you only met as the world fell apart around you as your father. He tried to stand up, and groaned as pain shot through his body. It was excoriating. Thousands of nails all driving through his chest, arms, and hips in a single moment.

"Ugh…"

A shadow moved and a faceless anbu appeared before him. He was in Konoha then. Or, perhaps not. ANBU had been disbanded during the last year of the war. They needed troops, and hidden, secretive operations against a man who had seven of the nine bijuu under his control was a moot point. A rose was ornately painted on her or perhaps his jet black mask, a sharp contrast that reminded him of blood. Medic corps. ANBU medic corps. Those had been the first to go, and would have been amongst the last ANBU corps to be formed after a recovery. Medics would be needed far too much to keep some secreted away for the elite covert ops agents of the village. He doubted he'd been unconscious for years….

Something wrong was going on.

"Uzumaki-san….please refrain from moving. Your healing abilities while rather potent have not yet completely repaired the damage done before your arrival here. We've done what we can to help you…but our lack of knowledge about your peculiar traits prevented us from doing much in fear of causing unnecessary damage." Her voice came out heavily modulated and distorted through the seals in her mask. But it was still obvious she was female.

He ignored her and finished sitting up.

"Uzumaki-san…"

He grunted and cast a look towards her that would have frozen oceans. "I'm fine." He held his right hand up to his face and flexed it. The ache in his forearm told him all he needed to know.

"Shattered Ulna?" He asked wearily.

"And fractured radius." She seemed surprised at his knowledge, though she hid it well. Only the slight hesitation in her voice gave her away. She was good. "How did you know that?"

He said nothing. Just stared at her. She seemed bothered by his gaze, then looked away. He almost laughed.

"Where am I?" He looked around, and looked at the various seals marking the wall. He had a clue what this place was.

"Konoha Maximum security-"

"Beneath the Hokage tower." He finished her sentence for her. He looked back up at the seals, the dull blue glow, and the weakness in his body, chakra suppressors… and drainers being used to suppress his chakra.

He would have cursed. But the pain in his chest was too much and he laid back down. A scowl now etched on his face. He had no clue what was going on. The tower shouldn't be here. It had been leveled for a third time a few months before. They hadn't even bothered trying to rebuild it. Let alone the prison beneath it. He looked back at the ANBU and she flinched away.

"Uzumaki-san…" She called out in caution. Two white masked ANBU had dropped from the shadows beside her. All three of them had their blades drawn. He'd been flaring killing intent in his annoyance. He hadn't even realized. He laughed, and they seemed to become even more anxious.

"Sorry." He reeled in the killing intent and they relaxed. The two other ANBU disappeared back into the shadows and he was left alone with the medic.

"What's your name?"

"Rose."

"Rose…." He looked at her. "I assume you got name because despite being beautiful, you've got quite the number of thorn?" He laughed at his own awful joke, and she said nothing. The silence only made him laugh more. It broke the oppressive atmosphere of his imprisonment for a few moments.

There was a sound like steel bruising on steel and he rolled his head on the bed to watch the door. In walked in a dead man. He watched, in silence, in contemplation…this wasn't the same Namikaze Minato he'd meet due to the impure world resurrection. This man was older, his hair longer, his face aged. The faint outlines of age could be seen streaking down his face. His eyes seemed older, worldlier than the dead man that was his father. His voice was deeper, older somehow, holding that strange tenor that only came with age.

"Hello, Naruto-kun."

He spoke softly, without hesitance…as if he'd rehearsed this a thousand times and it was nothing to be speaking with his son he'd never seen grow old.

"Namikaze Minato?" He was skeptical, and already he was gathering chakra. Nature chakra flowed through his veins like a cool breeze, and the kyuubi's birthed into existence like an inferno in his stomach. A burning like strong liquor that started at his belly and rose up through his chest. The ANBU moved into action too slow…his chakra formed and burst out in a massive wave. Knocking them over, Namikaze Minato however was unfazed. His face unmoving other than a stray raised eyebrow. Naruto, gasped out in pain. He shouldn't have molded chakra at all…but still he had to check.

"So…now that you know this isn't genjutsu now what?" Minato's voice had a far too jovial tone to it. Naruto almost missed it, the ANBU had recovered and now half a dozen blades were firmly pointed at him. His chest felt like an inferno as well.

"What's going on?"

"You have no clue? Well we didn't think you would. Your last memory was a battle against Uchiha Madara from what I understand. Is that right?"

He growled in annoyance. "Tell Inochi-san to stay the hell out of my memories."

"Oh? And how else do you know it was Inochi-san who was prying at your mind?" Minato now had a smile on his face. He seemed please, very pleased with himself.

"Who else would go prowling in there? Kurma would kill anyone else before they had a chance."

Minato nodded grimly. As if he'd realized something rather awful. "You still didn't answer my question…"

"Uzumaki Naruto…you've managed to do something rather impossible. From what we understand in those last moments in your battle against your worlds Uchiha Madara he attempted to cast you into a pocket dimension. It seems his intent was to banish you from your world, more or less permanently. He failed somehow...and you ended up here. In our world, our version of Konoha..."

He stared at Minato…then laughed. He only stopped when the pain in his chest was unbearable. He leaned back, and closed his eyes. Ignoring the dead man, and the ANBU that shouldn't be, and falling back into sleep. He had to talk to Kurama…Kurama would know.

xxx-Kurama-xxx

When he'd first been by the sage a thousand years before Kurama had been innocent. For a single moment, a single instance after his birth, or creation, or whatever you wished to call the manifold permeation of a sentient being of pure chakra, he had been innocent. Often times he enjoyed looking back at those few precious seconds….there was not much else to do, considering his situation. It was this innocence he realized that allowed him to retain who he was, to retain himself despite the hatred and rage, and madness made form that was the essence of his being. Who knew a few moments at the very moments of his birth would decide his personality a thousand years later?

It was perhaps this reason that he'd listened to Uzumaki Naruto, and became his friend. A few seconds after their birth had decided both their fates. Both of them had had only seconds of innocence before reality and the world had stolen it away. Brothers of far linked circumstance. Though, in truth, he'd never admit something as banal as that. He smiled at the thought though. A rarity to him.

Uzumaki Naruto had managed to worm a way deep into his heart. He cared for Naruto, in his own way.

"Kurama."

"**Boy."**

He smiled down. He was awake good, good. There had been moments….hard long moments, when he thought he might lose Naruto. It was good to see him awake again. Though, he couldn't let the boy see that much. He poured out his chakra, let it ripple across the blood pool, and bubble with insidious intent.

"**Finally crept from the grips of the shinigami? What took you so long ningen?"**

The boy scoffed, and flared what little chakra was available to him to wash away own. Kurma's grin widened. The boy was the only person whose chakra could affect his in any meaningful way. He enjoyed these little jousts of chakra. The interplay was fun.

"If I didn't know better I'd say you cared."

"**Good thing you know better." **

The boy laughed, and so did he. He strolled from the depths of his onetime cage, circled the boy, and then leaned down. His massive red pools watching the blond haired teen with intent interests. His maw spreading to reveal razor sharp teeth.

"My, what big teeth you have Kurama-san."

"**Truly, you are the king of fool's boy. To make jests at a demon king. Especially when you come seeking answers." **

"Then that makes us equals doesn't it?" The boy smirked and Kurama laughed once more. "Two kings meeting to speak for the first time in weeks." Then Naruto laughed. He seemed to enjoy these verbal jousts so Kurama indulged him.

"**I would hardly consider us equals. I can crush mountains with a single swipe of my tails. I can raze forests with but a breath of my lungs. I can cause tsunamis with my stride…you…you can throw wind fast. If anything, I'm a lord with a favored peasant he occasionally indulges in gifts."**

"You're impossible to talk to."

"**At least we can agree on that."**

"I have something to ask." The boy looked at him, blue green eyes watching him like a hawk.

"**It's true."** The boy seemed surprised much to his amusement. Did he truly believe he'd be oblivious to the obvious? The passing through the voided nothingness of dimensions did not go unnoticed. Especially to a being like him.

"How did you know?"

"**I know. It is and it shall always be. I know."** He smiled now. The boy hated vague answers, and riddles. He'd be festering for days over that.

"Asshole."

He sent his chakra out, and washed over the boy. He disappeared the in red miasma that was his chakra….and was gone. Leaving Kurama alone in the mindscape once more. A smile on his face.

xxx-Minato-xxx

"You know something Minato-san?"

"What?" Namikaze Minato frowned. A flurried scowl crossing his lips as he watched what, in one world, was his son. Naruto had been awake for a few days now, that first day he had faded in and out of consciousness. The second he'd sat there on the bed, and stared, and stared, and stared. Blank blue eyes watching nothing and just looking. On the third day, he'd asked Minato to see the village.

Together they now stood, well he stood. Naruto was still weak, his chakra far from recovered, and so he sat in a wheel chair. His face pale, his eyes watching out over the village, his golden locks dull and without sheen. He seemed ill, beyond ill really. Chakra exhaustion was more brutal the larger the reserves. You needed more than half your reserves to truly recover from chakra exhaustion. Despite the amount of chakra already flowing through his veins, about the same a chunin level-nin, he seemed on deaths door.

"This is all like a dream." He whispered out. Twisting the chair to turn around and face him, turning his back to the massive village walls. His shoulders sagged in the chair. Idly Minato wondered if the boy was suffering from depression. He wouldn't be surprised…in truth it was probably best if he had the boy speak with Inochi.

"Naruto..I know this had to be hard to swallow."

"It's like I died. Everyone I knew, everyone I had fought for, everyone who had died for me…." His voice trailed off at that, a far off, his hands came up and grabbed the pair of rings around his neck. Minato watched as Naruto fingered them, running his hands over the rings, brushing against the engravings, and complex seal script.

"But the thing is Minato-san….death, death is easy. And life is hard." He was quiet then spoke again.

"All wasted. All pointless."

"Naruto…just because you're here doesn't mean you're world ended. Somewhere out there is your home. Somewhere out there, the people you fought with, the people you fought for their still there."

He looked at minato. His eyes blank, then he sighed and turned around. He looked back at the village, blue watching, watching, watching. Suddenly, Naruto laughed. Then Minato watched as he gripped his chair, struggled against the weight of the world. The collapsed back into the seat.

The boy sighed. In frustration, out of depression as well.

"I'm too weak to even stand up."

"Naruto…" Minato frowned. The boy seemed to be spiraling into a deep depression. He'd lost a lot over the years. Friends, his parents, his wife and mentors and teacher. But he'd kept going, from what Inochi had told Minato, because there was always something, or someone left. Always a couple people he could latch onto…and now…

Now all of those people were gone…and it was just him.

"Naruto. Listen to me...not everything is gone. This Konoha isn't your Konoha. This world isn't your world. The people here won't be exactly like the people you knew…but still there here. Give them a chance, try to make friends. Find new precious people, and make new friends, and find a new reason to live. This Konoha isn't your Konoha, but it's still Konoha at its core. It's still the ideals of the same village."

The boy laughed in response.

"Nice speech Minato-san…." He looked out at the vast expanse of the village one more time. Then smiled a small smile. "Very nice speech….just….please. Leave me alone. I need time." He gripped his chair once more and grunted again. Then with a mighty heave. He pushed himself up.

"I just need time." Minato understood both messages. To get better, and to deal with the weight of the situation landing on his shoulders. Naruto trembled where he stood, but still he stood. A step then, the first triumph on a road to victory for Uzumaki Naruto.

"Okay. You haven't had anything to eat in weeks. Saline drips all good and dandy, but real food will do you good. What do you want?"

The boy was quite. Naruto stood and thought if over, and he waited as the young blond did. Then, he smiled, a wide toothed thing of remembrance and better times.

"Ichiraku-ramen, if you still have it. I'd like some Ichiraku ramen."

He smiled then laughed. "Of course we have Ichiraku-ramen." He nodded to an ANBU who disappeared in a blur. "Miso's your favorite right?"

"Inochi-san again?"

"No. Just a lucky guess." Minato smiled at that.

xxx-Naruko-xxx

Her foot slammed against the training pole with a dull thud. She twisted, threw her hand out in a swift punch, and the training pole shattered into pieces. She grinned at her handy work, then walked ten feet to the left and started the exercises again. A series of grunts escaped her lips, her punches and kicks landed every time, and like clockwork, after fifteen minutes the pole shattered. This was good. This was very good.

She had to train.

Another pole. Another series of kicks and grunts. Another sequence of kata's that she worked through with a fury. With anger, with pent up aggression and frustration. She had to be more, more, more. Goddamnit, she had to be better. Because if she wasn't….

She had to train.

Because if she didn't she'd always be known as the Hokage's daughter. As Namikaze Minato's spawn. She'd always be under his shadow….She loved her father, but she hated his reputation.

Finally she stopped. Ten shattered poles in all, the results of two and a half hours of training. Sweat glistened on her brow, her hair clung to her like a wet mop and she could spell the faint odorous scent of her own exertion. She smelled awful. She decided, rather simply, that she'd head home.

She started the light run, back to her family home. As she walked through the village she smiled, and conversed with various vendors. She smiled and talked, though stressed her urgency to return home. They smiled back, laughed, and allowed her to go. She reached home without too much trouble. As she passed through her doors she stopped. This…was strange.

Her father was home. That was unusual in and of itself. He normally didn't get home before six. Next to him was a red head, his hair like liquid blood flowing past his shoulders. His eyes were steel grey pools punctuated by flakes of sparkling blue. His skin was tan, yet seemed to have a sickly pale parlor.

"Naruko-Chan!" Her father got up, and crossed the distance between them in a second. She still couldn't track him. She scowled at that, then smiled when his large hands engulfed her in a hug.

"Tao-san. Stop…I'm too old for stuff like this."

He laughed at her indignation, then let her go. When he did he realized that the redhead now stood next to her. He was tall she realized, and smelt slightly of blood. She got a good look at his clothes. He wore a long flowing, jacket much like her father, but colored orange and black. He had no shirt on, and his bandages were hued pink, red, and brown, from blood fresh and new. His black sweat pants reached past his ankle, and he wore black sandals. Once more she noticed his seemingly sickly pall.

"Naruko-chan, this is Arashi-kun." The redhead extended a hand and she gripped it. She squeezed slightly to test his mettle. He seemed unfazed and his grip tightened like a vice around her. She made no face, but the pain in her palm…She loosened her grip and he did so as well. A small smile on his face now. She smiled in return.

"Good! You two get along already." She turned to her father a questioning look on her face. He had a devious smile, the same smile he had when he'd gotten her that Kunai se for her sixth birthday after Kaa-san had declared it too dangerous. The same smile young Mito also got on her face before she did something that embarrassed someone that pissed her of.

"What do you have planned Tou-san? What's going on?"

"Arashi-kuns a student of Jiraiya. He was recently injured in a battle and was found by some of our ANBU. He's been healed and will be recovering at our house. He's going to be taking the guest room."

She scowled and looked at Arashi a second time. "The old pervert? He's been training you?"

Arashi laughed. Then smiled. "Yeah. He has."

"You didn't pick up his hobbies did you? Because I'll raise a hell of a storm if you have. I won't have someone like him running around here."

"No." He laughed again. Then stopped and winced, gripping at his chest. "I didn't pick up his hobbies."

She nodded, and headed to her room. She turned as she walked up the stairs, and cast a wayward look back at him. "Good."

"We don't need another pervert running around Konoha."

"See you two get along already. Like one big happy family."

She finished walking up the stairs. Walked into the bathroom, and showered. Twenty minutes she walked out, a towel wrapped around her, and headed to her room. As she passed she noticed the guest room at the far end of the hall. Its door was open, and so she walked towards it.

He was seated on the bed. His legs crossed and his eyes closed. Chakra flowed over him, visible, palpable chakra. Red streaks lined his face, and he seemed impossibly still.

"Hello Naruko-Chan."

"Arashi-kun."

"What do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"I don't know." And she honestly didn't. She'd just stopped by, because…because of no reason really. She had an inclination to and so she did. It was that simple. She signed, then walked back to her room and laid down. She closed her eyes, then without realizing it fell into a dreamless sleep.

**xxx-chapter end-xxx**

**This was supposed to be a lot longer. About 1.2k words longer acutely bringing the word count to about 5.2k words instead of its current 3.7k words. But time is money, and I have little of both. The word file got corrupted, and I had to rewrite this. Haha. Damn. Next chapter will be longer. I'm trying to get this and the next chapter for starting small and the waves of times out in the next two weeks. Ap exams start for me in like…two weeks. Graduation is in about six. :/ so…I don't have a lot of time. Also gotta start getting ready for college as well. So soon imma be impossibly busy so I'm trying to get this done. **


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